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Eldertongue: Word Structure and Sound
Mar. 17th, 2007 08:25 amBack at the conlang...
If you want to follow along, I'll be going slowly through most of the topics covered in the Language Construction Kit at http://www.zompist.com/kitlong.html#phono.
To start with, here are some basic tips on pronunciation and syllable construction. This is a "say it as you spell it" language; some oddities of spelling may show up later, but I'm much more concerned about how everything is said right now. I won't try to sort this out in official phonetics, but I hope everything is clear anyway.
Vowel Sounds
a - "ah"
e - "eh"
i - "ee"
o - "oh"
u - "uh" (the schwa)
oo - "oo"
au - "aw"
eu - "ew"
ou - "ow"
uu - "uw"
Consonant sounds are a bit more tricky. The important thing to remember is that there are no unvoiced consonants. (There is also no voiced "th" sound. To be honest, the primary reason for this is that I didn't want it confused with the unvoiced "th" that is so common in English.)
Consonants
b
d
g
j
l
m
n
r
v
w
z
zh (this is a voiced sh)
There are also some possible consonant combinations, but a consonant combination can appear only at the beginning of a syllable.
Consonant Combinations
bl, br, bz, bzh
dj, dr, dz, dzh
gl, gr, gz, gzh
vl, vr, vz, vzh
zl, zr, zv
zhl, zhr, zhv
This is not a tonal language, which simplifies matters somewhat. As a general rule, stress falls on the first syllable and the third syllable of a word. The primary exceptions are the prefix "ma" and the prefix "od", which are never stressed. (More on "ma" and "od" later; they're important.)
In the syllable structure of Eldertongue, a syllable can be formed CVC, VC, CV, or V, but two vowels must have a consonant between them. This is true for syllables and for words both.
If a word ends with a vowel and the next word starts with a vowel, then a "g" is appended to the first word.
Example: Zharoo odaroo becomes Zharoog odaroo, pronounced ZHA-roog od-A-roo.
If a syllable with a terminating vowel meets a syllable with the same beginning vowel, then they merge into one syllable.
Example: ma+ aroo becomes maroo, pronounced mah-ROO.
If a syllable with a terminating vowel meets a syllable with a different beginning vowel, then a "d" is added to the second syllable.
Example: ma+ oudin becomes madoudin, pronounced mah-DOW-deen.
A side note: why did I call it "Eldertongue"? The fictional context for this language's existence is that a woman came across writings from an ancient civilization, writings that were similar to one of the languages she spoke, yet terribly different. Because her civilization does not have much interest in history, and she is not particularly a scholar herself, she eventually set the incomprehensible documents aside and forgot them. Years later, however, she began to have dreams in which a nameless, faceless authoritarian figure was teaching her the language on the scrolls. In her waking hours, the woman realized that she could, in fact, begin to understand the scrolls. She has not yet learned what this ancient civilization called itself, and so "Eldertongue" is what sticks in her head -- both from the age of the scrolls, and from the figure teaching her.
I'll start to crack open grammar and vocabulary another time... especially because that requires actual thought. Retyping my notes is one thing right now. Independent brain is another.
If you want to follow along, I'll be going slowly through most of the topics covered in the Language Construction Kit at http://www.zompist.com/kitlong.html#phono.
To start with, here are some basic tips on pronunciation and syllable construction. This is a "say it as you spell it" language; some oddities of spelling may show up later, but I'm much more concerned about how everything is said right now. I won't try to sort this out in official phonetics, but I hope everything is clear anyway.
Vowel Sounds
a - "ah"
e - "eh"
i - "ee"
o - "oh"
u - "uh" (the schwa)
oo - "oo"
au - "aw"
eu - "ew"
ou - "ow"
uu - "uw"
Consonant sounds are a bit more tricky. The important thing to remember is that there are no unvoiced consonants. (There is also no voiced "th" sound. To be honest, the primary reason for this is that I didn't want it confused with the unvoiced "th" that is so common in English.)
Consonants
b
d
g
j
l
m
n
r
v
w
z
zh (this is a voiced sh)
There are also some possible consonant combinations, but a consonant combination can appear only at the beginning of a syllable.
Consonant Combinations
bl, br, bz, bzh
dj, dr, dz, dzh
gl, gr, gz, gzh
vl, vr, vz, vzh
zl, zr, zv
zhl, zhr, zhv
This is not a tonal language, which simplifies matters somewhat. As a general rule, stress falls on the first syllable and the third syllable of a word. The primary exceptions are the prefix "ma" and the prefix "od", which are never stressed. (More on "ma" and "od" later; they're important.)
In the syllable structure of Eldertongue, a syllable can be formed CVC, VC, CV, or V, but two vowels must have a consonant between them. This is true for syllables and for words both.
If a word ends with a vowel and the next word starts with a vowel, then a "g" is appended to the first word.
Example: Zharoo odaroo becomes Zharoog odaroo, pronounced ZHA-roog od-A-roo.
If a syllable with a terminating vowel meets a syllable with the same beginning vowel, then they merge into one syllable.
Example: ma+ aroo becomes maroo, pronounced mah-ROO.
If a syllable with a terminating vowel meets a syllable with a different beginning vowel, then a "d" is added to the second syllable.
Example: ma+ oudin becomes madoudin, pronounced mah-DOW-deen.
A side note: why did I call it "Eldertongue"? The fictional context for this language's existence is that a woman came across writings from an ancient civilization, writings that were similar to one of the languages she spoke, yet terribly different. Because her civilization does not have much interest in history, and she is not particularly a scholar herself, she eventually set the incomprehensible documents aside and forgot them. Years later, however, she began to have dreams in which a nameless, faceless authoritarian figure was teaching her the language on the scrolls. In her waking hours, the woman realized that she could, in fact, begin to understand the scrolls. She has not yet learned what this ancient civilization called itself, and so "Eldertongue" is what sticks in her head -- both from the age of the scrolls, and from the figure teaching her.
I'll start to crack open grammar and vocabulary another time... especially because that requires actual thought. Retyping my notes is one thing right now. Independent brain is another.
